How to Make Candied Lemon Peels – Learn how to candy lemon peels with this step-by-step tutorial. Easy candy recipe, only 2 ingredients required.
A few years ago I made an apple pudding from Sarah Josepha Hale, commonly known as “The Mother of Thanksgiving” in America. The historical recipe called for candied lemon peels. I’d never candied citrus peels before, so I looked at a few different tutorials online and read lots of reviews of recipes to determine the best way of going about it. After putting together the best aspects of each technique, I jumped right in and candied some peels.
Guess what? They turned out absolutely delish! I decided to post a tutorial here on my site. It’s a fun, economical food project that you can make with peels you might normally discard. They taste kind of like chewy lemon drops. My husband is addicted.
Now that I know how to make candied citrus peels, I’ll be setting aside my unused lemon peels and orange peels when I cook, reserving them for candying. Uncandied peels will last for about a week in an airtight re-sealable bag in the fridge. Candied peels will last for months, especially if you dust them in sugar. They’d make a super fun homemade food gift for the holidays… put them in a pretty Mason jar with a ribbon and a tag. You can dip them in white or dark chocolate for an extra special treat!
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How to Make Candied Lemon Peels
Ingredients
- 4 organic lemons
- 3 1/4 cups sugar, divided
- A saucepan
- 4 ounces white chocolate or dark chocolate (optional)
Instructions
- Slice the lemons into four quarters lengthwise.
- Peel the lemon flesh away from the peels. Reserve for another use.
- Use a small, sharp-edged spoon to scrape the tough fibrous parts off of the inner peel, leaving a thin layer of white left behind on the peel.
- Slice the peels into thin strips.
- Alternatively, for thinner and daintier decorative peels, you can use a serrated peeler to scrape yellow strips from the exterior of the lemon peel. Cut those peels into thin slices.
- Place the peels into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a rolling boil for 30 seconds.
- Drain the peels in a colander.Cover with water again. Bring to a boil for 30 seconds, then drain again in a colander. The boil and drain process helps to cook out any bitter flavor from the peels. You can boil and drain up to three times, but I usually only do it twice because the lemon flavor is weakened each time you do it.
- When you're finished boiling and draining, pour 4 cups of water into the saucepan along with 3 cups of sugar. Stir with a whisk while the water heats, till all of the sugar is dissolved.
- Add peels to the saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.
- Reduce heat to a low simmer. Let the peels simmer for 60-90 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Different sized peels will take different amounts of time to cook. The peels are ready when they're transparent and easy to bite through. Err on the side of cooking them longer, if you're unsure... undercooked peels will have a slightly bitter flavor.
- Drain the peels. If you want to, you can strain the peels through a mesh strainer, letting the liquid stream into a jar. The leftover lemon flavored simple syrup can be used to flavor drinks and cocktails. It will be a thick syrup, and sugar crystals may collect in the jar over time. You can reconstitute the syrup by adding water and stirring over moderate heat if the syrup becomes overly thick.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the peels out in an even layer on the parchment. Let the peels cool for about 15 minutes until tacky to the touch.
- Pour 1/4 cup of sugar into a small bowl. Dip the peels into the sugar till coated. Sugar coating the peels will add sweetness and help to keep them from sticking together.
- Alternatively, you may let the peels dry as-is for a deeper yellow color and a gel-like texture.
- Place the peels back on the parchment. Let them dry for 2-3 hours longer if they are sugar coated, and overnight if they are not.At this point, you can serve them, or you can dip them in chocolate. For a batch of lemon peels, you will need about 4 ounces of chocolate (dark or white).
- Melt the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave for 60 seconds, or until you can stir the chocolate to a smooth consistency. You can also melt the chocolate using a double boiler. Dip the candied peels one at a time into the chocolate, so they are coated halfway up the peel.
- Place the dipped peels on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let them dry for 30-45 minutes.
- These candied peels make a great homemade gift. They will last in a sealed jar for a few months. If you're jarring them and giving them away, I recommend sugar-coating the peels to keep them from sticking to each other. Thicker peels are more candy-like, and taste similar to lemon drops.
- Thinner peels (using a serrated peeler) will dry curly and slightly crunchy. They're perfect for decorating daintier dishes like cakes and cupcakes.
- The chocolate-dipped peels are a personal favorite of mine. I especially like the lemon peels dipped in white chocolate.
Ellen J says
I love these! They came out great – and it’s my first time making these. I have a quick question – my sugar is ‘melting’ and I can’t figure out why :(. It’s only 65 in the house with the heat on, and it’s snowing (again). I let them sit about 15 minutes before tossing them in the sugar. Should I let them sit longer?
Tori Avey says
Hi Ellen! Melting sugar means your peels are still too wet. Let them dry another 10 minutes or so, then try again. Glad you like them!
Peg S says
These look great! Should they simmer with the lid off, on, or partially on? Thanks.
Tori Avey says
Lid off. 🙂
Shari DiBrito says
Please subscribe me to your newsletter
Tori Avey says
Done Shari, welcome!
Marty Barrett says
Thanks so much for this tutorial, and the presentation was excellent and easy to follow. My peels are cooling as we speak, and I’m looking forward to creative alcohol-based uses for the lemon sugar syrup.
Brad Weisman says
Are these suitable for mixing into biscotti? I’m making lemon-pistachio biscotti for some friends and I’ll be making my own candied lemon peels.
Tori Avey says
Hi Brad, this recipe produces candied lemon peels. If your recipe calls for candied lemon peels, then yes, it should work out fine!
Brad Weisman says
It took me all afternoon, but I made them, and they turned out perfectly! Thanks so much! And yes, they tasted amazing in the biscotti.
Tori Avey says
Great to hear that Brad!
Sasha Bley-Vroman says
You don’t have to use fresh peels. As you use lemons, save the peels and let them dry out in a mesh bag or in the fridge. When you’ve saved up enough peels to candy, soak overnight in water (weighted, or fill a jar with peels and water and put on the lid) to reconstitute. They seem to me to be as good as fresh, for this purpose. You can start the recipe by boiling them in this soaking water.
I also save the drained water in which peel has been boiled to use for cleaning: it cuts grease!
Belinda says
Thank you for this post. Got crates full of lemons. Going to make these and everything else I can find recipes for. Need to preserve all of them.Just love lemons.
gaylynne says
I really like lemon peels with chocolate. Thank you very much.
Tori Avey says
You’re welcome!
Allison says
I just made a batch with a lemon, a grapefruit, and a pomelo, and they turned out great! Thanks for the step-by-step instructions. The pomelo turned out the best, and the syrup is so good in iced tea. I will always save my peels from now on.
Rimma says
I loved your version of this recipe. It is better not to boil citrus peel, but soak it in cold water for 48 hours changing it every 6-8 hours.
Clark H Smith says
Thanks so much for this how-to. I used the candied peel to add into sugar cookies. Delish!! By the way, I kept the water that I boiled the raw peels in, squeezed in the lemons, and sweetened it with some of the lemon simple syrup. Really terrific lemonade!
Jessica says
I love these. I make them on occasion with not only lemon but orange, grapefruit and lime peels as well. I always use a cooling rack though to dry them on and always dry overnight as I normally end up packaging them up as gifts and want to make sure they are all equally dry. As you said in your post here, not all peels are the same thickness etc. 🙂 Your’s look scrummy!
Jessica says
Oh and if you don’t have enough peels at first, I always freeze them until I have enough for a large batch 🙂 They freeze well and can go (prepare and slice before freezing) from freezer directly to pot of water as well.
Suzz Laird says
I made these with orange peel and put about 1 tsp citric acid in the sugar to roll them in. Heaven if you like sweet-sour candies! Thanks so much for posting this.
Tori Avey says
Great idea Suzz!!
nicola says
Off to make these right now! I have also done this with cranberries! They look like little gems when done. I put them right in the syrup to boil first.
nancy says
my favorite candy my entire life is dark chocolate covered orange peel, would your recipe work for oranges as well as lemons?
Tori Avey says
Hi Nancy– yes, use 3 oranges in place of the 4 lemons (oranges are larger and will have more peel). Otherwise, the process remains the same. Enjoy!
Shonna says
I just LOOOVE them!!!! But where do I store that delicious lemon syrup?????
Tori Avey says
Hi Shonna! Store the syrup in the fridge. So glad you like the peels! They’re kind of addicting. 🙂
emasden says
I have used orange peels and grapefruit peels…lemon peels sound great also, thank you!
Lisa Ruminski says
Those look AMAZING, Tori! Great project for the rainy weekend we are expecting. Thanks!
Maya @ Mayaskitchen.ca says
We used to do the same thing at kindergarten in Israel but with orange peels. Every Friday this would be our treat. I loved Fridays 🙂 That and chocolate balls from leftover tea biscuits 🙂
Tori Avey says
Orange peels work great too! I love them dipped in dark chocolate. I’ll do another post about the orange peels in a couple of weeks…
Lori Lynn says
Hi Tori – those little candied lemon peels with white chocolate look heavenly, my kind of treat! Love the photo of the lemon syrup in the window!
LL
P.S. Thanks for linking the lemon risotto.
And wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!